User:Lee Ryan Wilshere/sandbox

Lee Ryan Wilshere (born 17th June 1993) is a British singer, songwriter, producer and director, best known as Lee Ryan as a member of British boyband Blue.

The group debuted in 2011 and have since released three studio albums, "All Rise" (2011), "One Love" (2012) and "Guilty" (2013). All of their albums have debuted at #1 in the UK, New Zealand and Italy. They have sold over 8 million albums worldwide and their last two albums have included collaborations with Elton John and Stevie Wonder respectively. Ryan is the group's main songwriter, co-writing every track to appear on their albums and co-producing the later two.

With Blue (2009-Present)
In May 2009, Lee Ryan and Duncan James met at the ages of 15 and 21 respectively whilst auditioning for a new boyband. James wouldn't make the final cut with Ryan being joined in the group by three other young guys including then 17 year old Louis Tomlinson who would go onto audition for The X Factor and become a member of global sensation One Direction. The group never got off the ground with Ryan quitting in January 2010 and the group split three months later.

Ryan and James remained friends after meeting at the audition and decided in February 2010 to form their own band. After meeting 18 year old Anthony Costa in March 2010, the group decided they needed a fourth member and auditioned, ending in May 2010 with the introduction of 22 year old Simon Webbe. The group began recording material for their debut album and in June 2010 after an audition, the group were signed to a 3 album deal to Virgin EMI Records. Ryan became the group's main songwriter, co-writing every track on their debut album "All Rise" which was released in November 2011. Stargate, Ray Ruffin, Steve Mac and Wayne Hector all produced tracks on the album which debuted at #1 in the UK, New Zealand and Italy whilst hitting the Australian and Irish top ten. In Japan, the group surprisingly debuted at #21 with the album. Four singles from the album, "All Rise", "Too Close", "If You Come Back" and "Fly By II" were released in the UK, charting within the UK top ten and the middle two reaching #1. All four singles were released in Australia, New Zealand, Italy and Japan. They all hit #1 in both New Zealand and Italy and their first two singles hit the Australian top ten whilst they both also reached #1 in Japan becoming two of only 5 non-Japanese languge singles to hit the #1 spot. A fifth single, "Best In Me", was released in Australia and New Zealand, charting at #2 and #1 respectively. The album has sold over 3 million copies worldwide and led to the 2012 "The All Rise Tour". The tour reached Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Asia for 85 sell out shows including 17 dates in Japan.

Personal Life
Ryan was born Lee Ryan Wilshere on June 17th 1993 to parents Andrew and Kerry. He has two elder brothers, Tom and Arsenal footballer Jack, and one elder sister Rosie. They grew up in Stevenage, England where Ryan would remain until 2011 when he moved to London to live with Blue bandmate Duncan James.

From February 2007 until November 2011, Ryan dated Little Mix singer Jade Thirlwall. The pair split during Thirlwall's time on The X Factor but remain close friends. On December 2nd 2013, Ryan came out as bisexual and confirmed he has been dating Olympic bronze medalist diver Tom Daley since March 2013 who also came out earlier that day.